The Victors and the Spoils
by Oriondruid
Summary: The Capitol would come to regret it's double-cross attempt, particularly given who their intended victims were.


**The Victors and the Spoils.**

By Oriondruid

**Summary:** _It had always seemed a certainty, (to those who didn't know Cato and Clove's closely held secret), that one of them would ultimately be the Victor of the 74__th__ Hunger Games. Now with Katniss dead after getting too close to the explosion she had caused and with Peeta also dead of the wound Cato had inflicted it had come down to just the two of them._

XXXX

**The Victory.**

Cato and Clove stood next to the Cornucopia, staring in wonder at each other having both just seen Thresh's lifeless body fall to the ground, killed by Cato with a single sword thrust through his heart. Cato had killed the District 11 giant in a fair fight he'd insisted Clove stay out of, and in which Thresh had been armed with a spear. Now the District 2 couple came to realize that, as the Gamemakers had promised, they would both be going home together, back to their families and friends as rich and famous Victors. The couple fell into each other others arms, gasping and sobbing in relief, awaiting the announcement of their joint Victory.

Instead, after some delay a Gamemakers' voice spoke loudly out of the air saying;

"**Congratulations to the two remaining Tributes of the 74****th**** Hunger Games. However, it has been decided that the previous announcements that a joint Victory would be permitted must be revoked, as it was in error. It has been decided that the previous announcement infringed the written rules, as laid down for The Hunger Games. Therefore the two survivors must continue to fight it out until one final Victor remains. May the odds be ever in your favour and let the Games recommence!"**

Cato and Clove separating from each other looked stunned and horrified at what they were hearing, and then looking deeply into each other's eyes both screamed out, to all who could hear, "_**No**__!"_

Cato looked fiercer and more angry than any of those viewing had ever seen him, then more calmly, but still trembling with controlled fury said;

"_You lied to us! You told us we could go home together and live out our lives in peace. But it was a lie! It's all been a lie since the day I first entered The Academy! All this bullshit about 'Glorious Victory' and 'Honour', it's all just a sham! You want only one thing from us Tributes, our violent deaths to fuel your twisted blood-lust. You call us killers, but it is you who are the murderers! I think all those who enter these Arenas probably come to realize this before they die, just as Clove and I have done, but nobody survives long enough to here to change anything and the faint chance of going home stops our mouths and makes cowards of us all, makes us too scared to speak out. But not me! Not any more!_

Then Clove stepped towards Cato. She took his hand in hers and then she spoke, more quietly but no less angrily, saying;

"Y_ou Gamemakers and Capitol people think you own us, that our lives mean nothing! That we Careers exist only to be used as pawns in your evil Games and that we have no feelings, other than the hatred and blood-lust that your Academies try to instil in us. But we are people too and we do have a right to life and to be considered as human beings, with all that entails! Yes, you could no doubt kill us both, right here, right now where we stand, for disobeying you! This Arena is riddled with your traps and weapons, intended to force our obedience, but hear me out first! You owe us that at least, for the 'entertainment' we have given you! What my darling Cato has said is true. You may be shocked to learn we have feelings at all, yet alone feelings for each other, but in truth we have secretly been in love almost since we first met in the Career Academy. These feelings we have had to hide all the time, stealing only precious moments together whilst in our District, in the Capitol and even whilst fighting here in the Arena, for fear that the other Tributes would exploit our love for each other as a weakness, as was the case with Katniss and Peeta. That is why Cato seemed to take up with Glimmer when we were allies at the start of these Games. It was all a smokescreen to hide our true feelings for each other. But now we are both about to die I am glad to be able to shout out my love for Cato and his for me across the whole of Panem! Now, with nothing left to lose, we are both finally free!"_

Cato bent down and kissed his diminutive girlfriend on the cheek, then smiling at her he turned and faced those watching on the Capitol's screens saying;

_Well, that's the situation. You vultures out there think you can simply change the rules at a whim and make us fight each other to the death, so that only one can go home a 'Victor'? __**Well Screw That! **__I'd rather die here, right now with my Clove than live on in an honour-less, lonely and loveless life surrounded by your riches after 'winning' in such a way. __**You can all go to hell!**__ As to myself and my beloved Clove, well even before we entered this Arena we'd decided that we'd take our chances against the other Tributes, but that if it came down to this situation, with us both surviving to the end, then we'd die together, rather than capitulate and do your evil bidding anymore! I will not murder the girl I love for a false Victory tainted by your lies, nor will she kill me in order to 'win'!"_

Cato and Clove embraced closely and kissed deeply, then each took one of Clove's knives in their hands and held them against each other's throats, preparing to say their final goodbye. With a sad smile Cato looked deep into Clove's eyes and said;

"_Clove, I love you and will always love you, I don't know if death is the end or the beginning of a new life as some believe, but if they are right then by doing this we will lose nothing and gain eternity together. Either way we will be free my love."_

Clove smiled up at him and replied;

_Cato my darling, I love and trust you and I want to be with you forever, if not here then in that 'other place' I'm sure this is not goodbye my love, just a new beginning."_

Then giving each other a final caress, they pressed the blades more closely against each other's throats as they prepared to end it.

But just before each of the blades could do more than scratch their throats a new voice cried out, yelling_, __**"Wait". **_In the background the couple could hear the muffled sound of argument and conflict and froze in their tracks, the final fatal knife strokes left undelivered. Shortly the new voice returned and loudly said;

_**Ladies and Gentlemen, may we present to you the joint Victors of the 74****th**** Hunger Games, Cato and Clove!"**_

XXXX

**Epilogue.**

It was some months later and the recently married happy couple were about to leave on their Victory Tour. Their new home in the District 2 Victor's Village was opulent and the pair were rich, but their fury at the Capitol's attempted double-cross, (although kept well hidden), was burning as fiercely as ever inside them. In public they ensured that they appeared as the loving couple they actually were, no longer dangerous killers but smiling, happy, friendly and magnanimous towards those whom they had defeated, paying particular tribute to Rue and Thresh for their bravery and thereby spreading their popularity even wider. But in private they were now also planning the downfall of President Snow and of the Capitol regime, who had made the severe mistake of trying to force them to kill each other. A mistake they'd vowed The Capitol would regret!

Even with the Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane already dead, (for the 'crime' of allowing their joint victory), the couple's continuing hatred of the surviving Gamemakers and President Snow remained strong. Indeed it might have got them swiftly arrested and killed, if the President been able to hear them speaking about such matters when they were in what they had thought was the privacy of their new home. But such potentially fatal 'indiscretions' were prevented, thanks to the intervention of an agent of the secretive District 13. This was a place that they, (along with almost all the rest of Panem), had believed to have been utterly destroyed according to Capitol propaganda. But the District 13 agent told them the truth about it's continued secretive existence and it's long struggle to bring changes to the ruling regime in Panem. She explained she was a part of a network of covert agents which District 13 had established throughout all the Districts of Panem and even in The Capitol itself and that she whilst working undercover as the Estate Manager of the Victor's Village she had discovered that every inch of their new house was 'bugged', along with large areas of the rest of their District.

Knowing this the agent had contacted them immediately after they returned home, telling them of the extreme caution they must use to prevent their coming under suspicion and being arrested following their furious outbursts in the Arena. Since if for one moment President Snow suspected that these statements of their anger had been more than simply down to frustration, stress and their terror of losing each other because of the attempted double-cross by the Gamemakers then he would show no mercy. This despite their display of love and willingness to die for each other, rather than capitulate making them hugely popular and known as 'Real' Star Crossed Lovers all over Panem and even in the Capitol. However, once made aware of the danger from the intrusive surveillance then the pair always ensured to only hold 'seditious' conversations between themselves and others only when outside the range of any live monitoring devices. They could do this because the District 13 agent had given them a covert 'bug sweeping' device, so they could find safe areas to talk in.

Plans were laid that their upcoming Victory Tour would in fact be entirely Rebel controlled and supported by covert District 13 military on the tour train. Whilst on the tour their real purpose would not be to act as 'cheer leaders' for the Games and the Capitol , but instead, whilst publicly seeming to fulfill their expected role, in private they would be liaising with underground rebel leaders and malcontents in the other Districts which they'd visit. All with the aim of coordinating a full-scale Rebellion, backed by District 13's military capability, which would begin when they finally reached The Capitol.

Soon it was time for Cato and Clove to leave their home and for their Victory Tour to begin. They joined the Capitol's train at the station, secure in the knowledge that it had already been taken over whilst parked overnight in the District 2 rail yard. This had been done by an elite squad of District 13's military. They'd caused an 'apparent' temporary technical glitch in the rail yards camera system and then swiftly pumped the train full of toxic nerve gas through the air intakes, almost instantly killing all the Capitol's Peacekeepers on board and giving them no time to communicate with the Capitol. The cameras were rapidly put back online, so that when the local Peacekeepers who had been alerted to the fault came to check up on the failure all seemed well. By then the Capitol's troops on the train had been replaced by the Rebel ones, now wearing the dead Peacekeeper's uniforms. The bodies of the genuine Peacekeepers having been welded into a large, disused metal storage bunker on the fringes of the rail yard, where they'd not quickly be found.

As the Victor Couple boarded the train the following morning they gave a 'deliriously happy' sounding speech to satisfy the Capitol's media, but as they did so both of them swiftly and secretly cast an eye to the sky, seeing nothing there, but knowing that high above them and invisible there was a highly advanced model District 13 hovercraft. It was one of a limited number of such vehicles that had been developed at great expense and which could far outperform the standard Capitol types. The Capitol's machines had largely remained unchanged for decades, because it's rulers arrogantly seeing no strong threat to force an upgrade of their vehicles. It was a tactical mistake they'd come to regret, as the powerful District 13 hovercraft would escort the couple's tour train on it's journey and provide 'top cover' against any attacks, should the Capitol learn the true intent of Cato and Clove's journey.

Now as their train rolled on towards the Capitol, stopping at all the other Districts en-route Clove and Cato had but one single bloodthirsty thought remaining in their otherwise completely 'reformed' minds, The both of them were relishing the idea of using their highly trained Career's killing skills to painfully slaughter President Snow in front of the whole of Panem, on live TV when they were presented to him! It was going to be a great tour!


End file.
